Canada and the United States showed scant sign on Thursday of closing a deal to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement, and Canadian officials made clear Washington needed to withdraw a threat of possible auto tariffs, sources said.

On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported that the consumer price index rose 2.8% in the 12 months leading up to August, following a 3.0% increase in July. On a seasonally-adjusted monthly basis, the CPI was up 0.1% in August, after increasing 0.5% in July.

U.S. stock index futures posted solid gains ahead of Friday's open, extending the positive run seen in the previous session on Wall Street.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials added 20 points, or 0.1%, to 26,747

S&P 500 futures slid 0.75 points to 2,938.75, while futures for the NASDAQ composite poked up 0.75 points to 7,609.50.

Both the Dow and S&P achieved record highs Thursday.

While no corporate earnings are due Friday, individual stocks news will likely keep investors alert. Twenty-First Century Fox and Comcast are heading for an auction this weekend to settle a takeover bid for British broadcaster Sky. The bidding procedure is due to kick off Friday evening and end on Saturday.

Trade tensions between the U.S. and China continue to rattle investors after both inflicted fresh tariffs on one another earlier this week. China's commerce ministry said Thursday that it hoped the States would show sincerity in trade negotiations.

Also Thursday, the U.S. administration inflicted sanctions on the Chinese military for purchasing missile systems and fighter jets from Russia.

Data due Friday includes the latest flash U.S. composite purchasing managers' index figures, scheduled for publication at 9:45 a.m. ET.